Let's Talk About Stalking

'I was stalked.
As a teenager, as a young adult and probably still am. 
These experiences affected my mental health and relationships with the opposite sex.
I was scared, depressed, locked in four mental walls, alone.
It was horrible. Not being free to act, feel, talk, love.
And even though no one was physically there twenty four seven, the damage it did to my way of thinking and mentality was devastating.
I avoided talking about this for years and when I sometimes was brave enough to talk, I was shaking experiencing panic attacks.
Until I realized that I was not the only one going through this.' - Katie said while leaning on the sofa.

She was right.
Stories of people being stalked are not only on everyday news but our society too.
An example is the recent story of a woman being stalked by her boyfriend, not taken seriously by the police and eventually being murdered by him.
(You can read the whole story on The Washington post's website.

When discussing this with some of my colleagues, they also mentioned that they had been stalked in the past. They talked about how afraid they were to get out of the house, to commit to relationships and eventually keeping their lives on hold. All of them however, reported something in common. When they reported to the police of these instances, the police did nothing to protect them apart from talking to the stalkers and telling them not to repeat it again.

The fundamental gap on these laws are so evident, that do not protect the victims.

Taking this a step further, there are numerous ways someone can be stalked.

One, might be the case mentioned before, where people physically stalk others.
Another, might be through social media, where we allow people to stalk us with our permission and our posts.
The third might be when authorities or governmental institutions do so in the name of safety and prevention of crimes.

Even in these cases however, there are still gaps in the laws. Employees (of this institutions) could also be mistreating these technologies and using them to stalk on people the know (i.e. family members, friends, partners, neighbours etc).

We are all being stalked.
Everyday.
Some of us through social media, some of us from authorities/surveillance, others from strangers or people that know us. Sometimes it is not possible to avoid it, especially when we live in a society full of surveillance, however, that does not mean that we shouldn't talk about it.

Some of us are awake on these issues and gaps in laws and take care of our privacy.
Others do not even think about it.

What we need to understand as a society, is that technology can help prevent crimes and create a safe environment to live in, however it can also violate our fundamental human rights.
Therefore, we should start talking about this issue, demanding change and expecting a safer society, our privacy not only for ourselves but for future generations to come.

© 2019